Norway moves toward the future of sustainable construction
On April 10th, Oslo became the epicentre of sustainable construction. Experts from the European Union gathered in the Norwegian city to explain the activities that are being developed within the framework of REZBUILD project, an initiative funded by the Horizon2020 Programme of the European Commission that grows with the main aim of defining an innovative and collaborative refurbishment ecosystem for Near Zero Energy Building in Europe. REZBUILD will establish a multi-collaborative framework within a refurbishment methodology managed by an Agile Project Management tool based on cloud service, capable to interconnect in real time the key steps of a tailored retrofitting plan among all stakeholders involved within the building renovation value chain. Decision-making tools will be performed in order to validate the best optimised cost-effective refurbishment technology package in Bertramjordet housing cooperative, in Oslo. In addition, the REZBUILD project has established 2 more demo sites in Venice (Italy) and Madrid (Spain), each one with a different representative climate and tipology of building. Involvement of local communites and citizens The participative programmes carried out within the framework of the project will be implemented through a methodology for decision-making processes which involve all the relevant expertise in the overall process. In this context, the owners of the buildings, who are the object of the pilot tests, will be pivotal to promote actions of social innovation, through the user’s awareness on efficient energy use. In this sense, the workshop organized in Oslo on April 10th was focused on the owners of the houses living in the neighbourhood that will be refurbished within the framework of the project. Local communities' acceptance and the understanding of Oslo population about this project is considered essential to succeed in the development of the refurbishment and renovation actions. In addition, this workshop aimed to raise awareness on the impacts of the project among the final users and detect any potential social risk deriving from its implementation. The workshop was a good chance to present REZBUILD and its general objectives and specific measures in Oslo, in order to improve the knowledge about the project. Furthermore, representatives of the consortium had the opportunity to discuss the project, as well as the related perceived risks through group dynamics and interactions. The workshop ended with a presentation of the project website and its participation tool. 1st Periodic REZBUILD Meeting in Norway – 6 months project development In conjunction with the workshop, on 11-12th April, consortium partners met in Oslo to keep collaborating on the project, in order to share the status of the art of each Work Package with the EU Project Officer and the whole team, interacting to facilitate knowledge sharing between partners. The meeting included a visit to the Project Demo site in Oslo, one of the three demonstrative actions of the project. The dwelling selected for the demonstration is a housing cooperative in Bertramjordet, representing typical dwellings in Norway. The housing cooperative is a suitable site for demonstrating the expected higher efficiency of BIPV in cold climate and good utilisation of aerogel insulation. The goal of the renovation is the reduction of more than 60% in consumption and cost of energy, improving comfort for the tenants and making the building's energy performance a key element.
Keywords
refurbishment, NZEB, social innovation, public participation, local communities, energy saving, buildings
Countries
Spain, France, Italy, Norway, United Kingdom